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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Card of the Week

1987 Topps Dwight Evans RB

When people talk about baseball records that will never be
broken, they often bring up Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game witting streak of the
gold standard. Nobody ever mentions Dwight Evans and his record, honored by
this card. Evans set the record by homering on the first pitch of the season.
Let’s just see somebody break that record!

When I first saw this card, I was unaware of Evans’ feat
from the year before. So, I was initially confused by the record, as stated on
the front. The word “earliest” threw me. I always associate “early” with
“time.” So, I would expect the earliest home run to be the one that comes first
chronologically. So, I wondered why Evans had hit his home run earlier in the
year than anyone else. Did the Red Sox happen to play a game on an early day on
the calendar? Or, was it time? Since it was in Detroit, did the time zones help
make it early in the day? Was 12:05 ET really early in the day for a home run?
But, no. The card is referring to the number of pitches into the season. Even
that begged questions. Was it the first pitch thrown that year by anyone in
major league baseball? Was it just the first pitch thrown in that game? If the
Red Sox were the home team, would it still have been the first pitch? So many
questions.

But, the actual record is fairly irrelevant. It’s a card
made to honor a specific feat from the year before. In that, it does a good
job. The card is clear, other than the vocabulary. It nicely says that it’s a
’86 record breaker. It gives the name of the player, his team, and the
accomplishment. And, it does all that without detracting from the picture on
the card. It would have been fantastic if the picture were of the actual record
breaker. But, that doesn’t look like Tiger Stadium to me. (What do you say,
Jere?) At least Evans is in his road grays. And, he appears to be making pretty
good contact with his swing. So, it’s a decent representation.

2 comments:

That's Anaheim. Look at pics of the '86 ALCS and you'll see that orange railing.

Also, I'll never forget that home run. I came running home from school that day in 5th grade to try and catch the end of the game (on radio of course). I got home and my mom was so excited to tell me Dewey homered on the season's first pitch. And yes, it was the first pitch thrown in MLB that year. Usually the Reds played the first game, but for some reason Sox-Tigers was ahead of it.

Bonus: Yesterday I sent out the prize for my latest contest. SInce the winner was named "Dewey & Co." I decided to throw in an Evans card. I chose THIS CARD--BEFORE I saw this entry on your blog, which I scrolled down to after reading about your latest contest. Really freakin' weird.

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As a Red Sox fan, I've been to many games at Fenway Park. I've sat in the first row along third base, and the last row in right field. I've sat in roof boxes, field boxes, and the right field grandstand. The best seats of them all, however, are Section 36. Dead center field. You can see the field, enjoy the Sun, and have the time of your life.